My First Experiences with Print Competition

Brothers

It can be a little intimidating to do print competition. I remember the first time I heard about the 12 Elements of a Merit Print. The one that confused me the most was Storytelling. I wondered, “How are we supposed to tell a story with a single image?” It seemed a little crazy to me.

What a Witch

Then I sat in on a print competition. Wow. That changed everything for me. I saw images that had impact and stories and technical excellence. The judges sat coolly at the front of the room and could score images in seconds. I had barely registered a fraction of the detail of the image before the score was announced, and the next title was being read.

Quest

After the judging was over I could talk to the photographers that made the images and found out all the stories behind their images. That is where this podcast gets its roots….from the stories behind all the wonderful photos that professional photographers call their best.

Married Couple

In this episode, I talk about the following images that didn’t merit at IPC this year. You can see the images and see find out what the judges had to say in their critiques by listening to the episode.

I want to thank all of the loyal listeners of the podcast. The show passed its 1000th download in the last week, and in the last couple days downloads have increased eight times what they have been. Thank you for listening and sharing the show with others that you think appreciate the information and stories behind the great images. This show continues to talk about images, but with a little twist because the images of our guest today differ from a lot of images we normally see. I hope you enjoy the stories and the images.

Andromeda

Fish Talk Radio

Print Competition Interview

On this episode of I talk with Master Photographer Thom Rouse from Chicago, IL. We’re lucky to have Thom. He has some cool stuff. I have his book titled, “Latent Icons,” which has an amazing collection of beautiful images. Thom’s art integrates fine portrait with surreal elements to create something I find unique. I met Thom last February at the Iowa Winter convention. He served as one of the print competition judges and was one of the final keynote speakers for the convention. I admire Thom work as it cuts across some of of the traditional images that we see in print competition, but still maintains a connection to the 12 Elements.

Comments and Tweets

If you have requests for questions for future shows, let me know and I’ll talk about them on future episode. You can email me or hit me up on twitter. My twitter handle is markoehler. Use the hashtag #12elements to help me find those tweets.

If you’ve been watching Facebook over the last week, you have probably seen all the amazing 2015 PPA IPC print competition loan images being shared. There are some incredible professional photographers out there. I believe each of those images has a story behind it. That is what I want this podcast to be about: the stories behind great photos. I try to reach out to as many of the photographers as I can, but I know I don’t get to see all of them. If there are images that you think have a great story behind them, let me know, and I will try to get an interview with the photographer that made them.

This episode features an interview with Mark Bortz of Fusion Edge Photography in Robins, IA. Mark hails from my neck of the woods. I see him and his wife at many of the Iowa events I attend. I’m excited to talk with him today about some great travel photography he entered in the International Print Competition this year. His images went 4 for 4 in the photographic open category.

If you have requests for questions for future shows, let me know and I’ll talk about them on future episode. You can email me or hit me up on twitter. My twitter handle is markoehler . Use the hashtag #12elements to help me find those tweets.

Today I’m talking with speaker, International Print Competition (IPC) judge, and Professional Photographer Dennis Hammon of Hammon Photography in Idaho Falls, ID. I met Dennis back in the late 90s when he spoke at McKennavention. I’ve always been amazed by his images. He was a judge at the Iowa print competitions a couple years ago and just helped judge at the 2015 IPC. We talk about Dennis’ 2014 IPC images shown here. Please make sure you go out to Dennis’ site to see more of his work and keep up with what is going on with him.

Architect’s Dream

Horseshoe Bend

Porfavor

Zen

As I work on booking guests for the show, I try to mix things up between the different genre of pictures. I try then to gauge the popularity of the shows based on the number of downloads or listens it has. Most of the time we talk about pictures that have done well and not those that haven’t done so well. I do that because I don’t want to put people on the spot for images that didn’t merit. I guess, I don’t want to embarrass my guests.

But I have not problem embarrassing myself. My IPC 2015 case went 0 for 4. This week I got my critiques from the case. I thought it might make an interesting show to hear what the judges had to say about those images and areas they thought they were weak. For copyright concerns, I can’t broadcast the actual comments, but I can paraphrase what they said and my thoughts on those comments. If you think that is something you’d like to hear and incorporate into your work, let me know in the show notes or drop me an email.

Show Update

Sorry for the bit of inconsistency in getting episodes out. The recent IPC was causing me some scheduling issues and affected different, scheduled guests. I’m glad to see that we are approaching our 1000th download for the show. It seems to be resonating with you, the listeners. I want you to find value and interesting stories with each episode. If you have guests you’d like to hear on the show, please let me know and I will work on getting them on the show. Also, if you have topics or questions, forward them on, too.

Interview with Toni Harryman

I interview master photographer Toni Harryman of Johnson Photography in Norwalk, IA. I’ve known Toni for several years. She was the Profesional Photographers of Iowa president when I joined PPIowa. Toni has been one of the great advocates of print competition I’ve met. She always seems to be helping photographers get started with and to grow in print competition. I have been trying for awhile to get her on the podcast, and it finally worked out for her to join us to talk about how to started and tips for you.

Comments on iTunes

Remember to go to iTunes and leave comments and rate this show. I’ve found that an iTunes comment can take up to 48 to appear, so don’t worry if they don’t show right away. Also, if you’d like other options for listening to the podcast, let me know, there seem to be new ways to listen to podcasts all the time.

If you have competition prints that have merited, especially at 2015 IPC, I would love to talk to you about them on a future episode. You can contact me through this website or via email at the12elements@mark-oehler.com.

Upcoming Episodes

Watch for the following future guests on podcast. Remember, you can subscribe on iTunes to automatically get new episodes.

Well, PPA just finalized the 2015 International Print Competition last week. If you’re like me and you watched any of the streaming of the print judging, you are most likely aware of the incredible images entered this year. I hope you felt confident enough in your images this year to enter, and if you did, I hope you did well. If not, I suggest thinking about images for next year and maybe get inspiration from the guests on the show.

I Think I Hear Him

Today I’m talking with Certified Professional Photographer and national speaker Bree Barber Adams of Bebe Charm Photography in Mansfield, TX. Bree just completed her PPA Masters degrees at the 2015 International Print Competition. I only recently became familiar with Bree’s work. I have to say, she does great competition and client images. In April, one of her images graced the cover of Professional Photographer magazine.

In the episode Bree talks about the images she entered at the 2015 PPA International Print Competition and how taking a risk gained helped her achieve her PPA Master Photographer Degree.

Make sure you check out Bree’s work on her website. Since several of the images that we talk about were selected for the PPA Loan Collection and the final awards have not be made, but I can share these. The other the images can’t be shared yet, but come back to this page for a link to those images.